Tag: the sandlot

Ok folks, we made a slight blunder on this week’s episode of the podcast. Some would say we’ve made a huge blunder. Me? I’d have to say that we made a small blunder…a “Smalls” blunder, because in speaking about the amazing movie that is 1993’s The Sandlot, we forgot to mention perhaps the most famous line in the flick. Yeah kids, we got through an entire hour of talking about Benny The Jet, The Beast, and Squints without saying “You’re killing me Smalls!”. I couldn’t believe it myself when I heard it from our review committee, but it’s true. Now I know right now you’re asking, “How could you forget something we all consider nerd gospel you effin’ blasphemers!” and “How the hell do you have a review committee when you’ve only got like 15 listeners?”. Well, in reverse order, the answers are: it’s my wife and dog, and we just forgot…or did we?

Yeah man…we forgot, but maybe we forgot for a reason. Maybe on some subconscious level we didn’t mention it because we find it to be polarizing. By “We” I mean “Me, Craig”, because I know that Ron just forgot because he has a real job and handles all the technical aspects of the show and can’t be expected to always have perfect notes. So yeah, I find that damned quote to be a double-edged word-sword of sorts. When said by someone who I already know and enjoy, I find it to be a cute and inoffensive way to voice frustration. However, when uttered by someone I’ve just met, it makes me want to throw them in hole and cover the hole with leaves in hopes that others will later fall on them and cause them even greater harm; at the same time hoping that said following-fallers have both high BMIs and IBS, to make the situation both more painful and more dysentery-y. Understand? Of course not! I shall explain further.

So let’s say my partner in pod-ing and my brother in life Ron (also known as “Big Ron, The Hammer!”) was trying to teach me how to fix a toilet because I tried to flush a wrapped Big Mac down the poo-hole (we eat healthy in my house, sh*ts contraband!). Imagine that I kept trying to poke the wet-sammy further down the crap-shoot with the wrong end of the plunger, he might utter a playful “You’re killin’ me Smalls! Use the suction end and get that burgy outta there before it’s too wet to eat!”. In this scenario, Ron eats toilet-meats. This is what happens when I’m left in charge of our blog by the way, but I digress. In this case, his usage was a very nice way to tell me to stop being a moron and learn to use a plunger. I know and love this guy, he had a point to prove without creating tension; no harm, no foul.

Now conversely, let’s say that I’ve just met a gentleman named “Skylar” or a lady who goes by…uhhh…well…yeah, “Skylar”. This person is wearing the shirt of a band that I like that they’ve never heard of, has hair that way too effort-fully effortless, and likes to tell you all about how they can eat donuts all the time because “it fits their macros”. At some point during our first meeting, after they’ve told me all about how into Crossfit they were before they “hurt their back”, they hit their fifth Borat quote or other terrible joke and I don’t laugh. Now they repeat the joke, and instead of telling them they aren’t funny, I act as if I just don’t get it. They express their frustration with me not getting said terrible joke by laughing at themselves again and saying…you guessed it, “You’re killing me Smalls!”. Now what I do in this situation is I politely smile whilst internally weeping at the bastardization of one of my childhood’s most iconic lines, pretend that my dead grandma is calling me, and escape further interaction. What I want to do in this situation? Remember that scene in A Clockwork Orange’ where they pried that dude’s eyes open and made him watch horrible videos of stuff I don’t remember because I don’t like that movie because it makes me sad? Yeah that, but instead of whatever Malcolm McDowell had to watch, it would be a collection of home videos of suburban kids rapping at middle-school talent shows. Then I’d commit something in their home that rhymes with “Birder”. Yes, I’d commit Turd-er; fill in the blanks for yourselves as to what that is. Also yes, birder is bird-murder; but that’s neither here nor there.

Are we seeing the difference here folks? Are we understanding my mixed feelings? Like many things in life, Smalls killing someone is a tool to be used sparingly and by the right person in the right situation. It’s like the damned Infinity Gauntlet, or laxatives, or that freakin’ rap air-horn; in the wrong hands it’s capable of horrible atrocities. So yeah, I have weird issues with the usage of a movie quote and I’m using that to justify a mistake I made on a goofy podcast, but you’re reading it, so I guess we’re all the ones whom Smalls are killing. Yeah… that’s it.

FREE BONUS IDEAS:

A beer koozie that says “You’re Chillin’ Me Smalls”

A rap album featuring only rhymes about The Sandlot and/or dedications to Biggie called “You’re illin’ Me Smalls”

A meme featuring Michael Jackson and the kids from The Sandlot captioned “You’re Thrillin’ Me Smalls”

An apron that says “You’re Grillin’ Me Smalls”

A porno that I will let you all figure out the name of.

A video of the guy who played Ham getting kicked in the crotch and then saying ” You’re Killin’ Me Balls”

On this week’s episode we talk about 1993’s The Sandlot. We get into it about how weird Small’s actually is, decide whether the other kids are good people, and figure out once and for all if Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez is the world’s greatest kid. One thing that we don’t mention is “You’re Killing Me Smalls!”, but we have a blog dropping tomorrow that explains how that happened. So, stay tuned to the blog and keep on reviewing us on iTunes, Spotify, and wherever you can get someone to listen to you about the dumb internet shows you listen to!